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District 214 announced Arts Unlimited winners

The winners have been chosen for this year's District 214 Arts Unlimited Writing and Art Contest, sponsored by the Daily Herald.

Residents living in the District 214 attendance area, or roughly Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Elk Grove, Prospect Heights, Mount Prospect and Wheeling, could submit entries.

Participants could submit only one entry per category, which included prose, poetry and visual art. Prose could be fiction or nonfiction with a 1,500 word limit, and visual art included, 2-D, color or grayscale media.

Entries were judged by writing and art professionals, including former teachers, community experts and members of the Daily Herald editorial staff.

Winners were notified by March 19, and their work will be recognized at a districtwide award presentation and reception Wednesday, April 14, at Forest View Educational Center in Arlington Heights.

The visual art winners are:

• Hisaka Nishibayashi of Elk Grove Village, first place, "Through the Glass" tempera

• Jeremy DeMoss of Elk Grove Village, second place, "Illusion no. 3" oil on canvas

• Eddy Gonzales of Des Plaines, third place, "Disco Heaven" digital photography

The winning prose entries can be read at dailyherald.com. The prose winners are:

• Paula L. Matzek of Mount Prospect, first place, "Shore Leave"

• Terry Murphy of Prospect Heights, second place, "Cherries"

• Premlata Mansukhani, Mount Prospect, third place, "Five Hundred Rupees"

The following are the winning poetry entries:

Rusty Dreams By Magdalena Wrzesinksi of Arlington Heights, first placeOn the gas station's dilapidated asphalt sits a mangled blue van with dreams leaking from its soul like the old oil leaking from its drained engine into a greasy rainbow puddle onto the crack ed pavement It wants to feel the bounce of happy passengers on its seats and be adorned with scratch and sniff stickers on its windows The van stares longingly at a Jaguar with four TV screensand two giggling children scuffing the front seats It wants to burn the damp beach towels and banana peels It wants to take a long steam bath with the Mercedes Benz at Pump 3 The van sighs at its chipped blue paint and cringes at its mocking racing stripes It wants to burn rubber down a vacant lot It wants to flip its odometer back to twenty The van hopes the man left his keys on its hood Or sticking out of the door handle It wishes for some vagabond to jump in and start a high speed chase Maybe scratch past a pole or two Alas, the man flaps into the driver's seat A heavy burdenChocolate oozes from his fingerssuccessfully escaping the gluttonous graspand finds reprieve on thesmoothcoolsteering wheelThe Beef By Adam Leslie of Buffalo Grove, second place17, was the age when I stared At the smoldering reflection of my life In a thin layer of grease Running off the side of the ground beef Simmering on the pan. In 1 year I wouldn't be a financial burden To my father, My friends will have left To find ways of getting more money At colleges where dress codes, Greek letters, Plaques dedicating deceased Alumni Shriveling in their $50,000 Tombs. The sudden burn of the frying pan's rim On my arm, Refocuses my attention To the sizzle Of the beef cauterizing slowly, Making a dark brown texture. A few over-folded bills, Driver's license, School I.D., A business card to a polish buffet Down at 4750 North Harlem Ave Completes the residency of my wallet. I turn the flame from an intense blue Down to a bashful reddish-orange As the smoke clouds my head With a half-hearted wince I turn the beef over Searing its uncooked reflection To match its now more aged complexion.Dear Brother By Aline Gogunskaya of Arlington Heights, third placeI stand by my bedroom window,Hands across my chest. I look down. A sharp image of the city street distills As the raindrops bathe the bedroom window. An amber shade spills across slurry cars and buses Looking like crushed chunks of ice in a big martini glass. A long happy-hour. A familiar slide of time. Busy pedestrians blur away in a hurry to get home But like a cork in a bottle they're stuck in traffic. And my mind is stuck on you. You drill my heart with a corkscrew. You drilled so much that there's a hole. Just take a straw and slurp the rest, I guess. You skate on thin ice, With no understanding how it dissolves in bitter tastes. You stumble and stagger, attempting to arise, But soon the ice will break and you'll run out of time. Only if you'll let me, I'll toss the coaster, the life buoy, and pull you out. I just can't stand to see you struggle, I'll chug the river down.False11812000"Illusion no. 3," oil on canvas, by Jeremy DeMoss, second placeCourtesy of District 214False <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Related documents</h2><ul class="morePdf"><li><a href="/graphics/shore leave 1.jpg">"Shore Leave" page 1</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/shore leave 2.jpg">"Shore Leave" page 2</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/shore leave 3.jpg">"Shore Leave" page 3</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/shore leave 4.jpg">"Shore Leave" page 4</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/cherries 1.jpg">"Cherries" page 1</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/cherries 2.jpg">"Cherries" page 2</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/cherries 3.jpg">"Cherries" page 3</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/cherries 4.jpg">"Cherries" page 4</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/cherries 5.jpg">"Cherries" page 5</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/five hundred rupee 1.jpg">"Five Hundred Rupees" page 1</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/five hundred rupees 2.jpg">"Five Hundred Rupees" page 2</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/five hundred rupees 3.jpg">"Five Hundred Rupees" page 3</a></li><li><a href="/graphics/five hundred rupees 4.jpg">"Five Hundred Rupees" page 4</a></li></ul></div></div></div>